Meat casing



Dec. 3, 1968 J. KRAUSS ETAL MEAT CASING Original Filed Aug. 1'7. 1964 BRBU INVENTORS 75 (RA uss P/(HAR-D .J.

United States Patent 26,496 MEAT CASING John Krauss, Jamaica Estates,and Richard J. Barbu,

Lindenhurst, N.Y., assignors to Markbar Corpolglfitill, Garden City,N.Y., a corporation of New or Original No. 3,248,905, dated May 3, 1966,Ser. No. 389,837, Aug. 17, 1964. Application for reissue Nov. 21, 1966,Ser. No. 615,871

1 Claim. (Cl. 66-193] Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in theoriginal patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matterprinted in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fabric consisting of two panels havingadjoining selvage edges, each consisting of a warp-wise strand ofknitted chain loops. Each panel has a plurality of parallel lines ofwarp-wise, knitted chain loops providing courses for an elastic cord,the warp portions of which form bites which combine with the selvageedge chain loops, as knitted components thereof, to join the panelstogether. The bites of elastic cord from each panel alternate along thestrand of chain loops constituting the joined selvage edges of thefabric. The elastic cord is covered by two layers of thread. Each layeris composed of right and left hand filaments, adjacent coils of theouter layer threads being in continuous contact when the cord is inrelaxed state.

This invention relates to receptacles and, in particular, to casings forfood products which are introduced into the oven with the food productcontained therewithin for roasting purposes.

There are some forms and cuts of meat products which cannot be roastedunless they are held tightly compacted during the cooking process.Otherwise, it has been found, the meat tends to crumble and fall apartwhile roasting and emerges from the oven in a form which is unsightly inappearance and diificult to serve. Hitherto, the solution to thisproblem has been to encase the meat in a netted receptacle composed inpart of elastic cords that are snugly covered by a single covering madefrom, for example, cotton or cotton and nylon thread. The specialproblem that such a container raises involves the use of elastic and itstendency under heat to flake off into the meat while the meat is in theroast. It would therefore seem desirable to design the netted materialto prevent flaking of the elastic in the roasting process.

[To this end the invention contemplates a meat container adapted toassume a tubular conformation and made in netted form of elastic andnon-elastic material which will be safe to use in roasting the meatcontained therewithin] The casing is made principally by knitting in awarpknitting machine of the single needle bed type longitudinal strandscomprising stitches of knitted loops. The elastic cords are laced intothe stitches in sinuous fashion, the strands and cords thereby forming afabric in several panels. The free edges of the outer panels are united,as by hand sewing, to form a tubular casing which is employed toencompass in a compact manner the meat as it is being processed.

One object of the invention is therefore, to provide a netted casing formeat being cooked which is safe to use and economical to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages may be appreciated on reading thedescription below of one embodiment of the Re. 26,496 Reissued Dec. 3,1968 invention which is taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation showing the meat product within the nettedcasing with a portion in section;

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view showing the details of theconstruction of the casing in development form;

FIGURE 3 is a detail illustrating the means of connecting thelongitudinal and circumferential strands on an enlarged scale;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged detail view showing the construction of theelastic strands.

Referring to the drawings, the meat receptacle ll] having front and rearfaces is netted in form and can be fabricated exclusively by knitting.Its longitudinal strands 12 are composed of knitted chains [of waysstitches] of single loops which are non-elastic. As shown in FIGURE 2the circumferential cords 13 are composed of four independent strands,each containing a rubber core, which extend the entire length of thecasing being looped respectively between flat seam 14 and longitudinalstrand 16, the latter and longitudinal strand 18, the longitudinalstrand 18 and longitudinal strand 20, and strand 20 and seam 14. Asshown in FIG. 3, the longitudinal strands 16, 18 and 20 are in the formof knitted chain stitches defining a warp-wise row of loops, each rowconstituting a selvage edge for contiguous panel fabrics. The selvageedges are joined together by means of the bites alternately disposed oneach side of the chain stitches and provided by the weft cords 13 whichextend through the chain stitches I6, 18 and 20, and which are reverselyturned at opposing selvage edges.

The circumferential cords 13 have an elasticized rubber core 22 whichshrinks as it is heated. Each core is enveloped by an inner coveringlayer 24 and an outer covering layer 26. The inner covering layer 24consists of a single filament, left hand wound thread 28 and a singlefilament right hand wound thread 30. The outer covering layer 26comprises a left hand thread 32 composed of four filaments and a righthand thread 34 also composed of four filaments. The thread for thecovering layer is preferably cotton or cotton and nylon.

Each panel defined by the seam I4 and the strands I6, 18 and 20including warp-wise strands 12 are knitted together by means of the weftcords I3. The outer selvage edges of the panels may then be broughttogether and stitched to form the flat seam I 4.

When the receptacle is stufled with meat M, it assumes the stretchedconfiguration shown in FIGURE 1. [When the receptacle is stuffed withmeat M, and stretched as shown in FIGURE 1, it may be appreciated thatthe threads of each covering in the circumferential cords being wound inopposite turns tend to move together and prevent exposure of the elasticcore which tends to contract on exposure to heat] In FIG. 4, it is seenthat adjacent coils of each of the oppositely wound threads 32 and 34 ofthe outer covering layer 26 are in continuous contact with one another,the outer layer being thus closely wound, while adjacent coils of thethreads 28 and 30 are out of contact with one another, the innercovering layer being thus in spaced apart, adjacent coil threadformation wound.

Various modifications to the invention may be effected by personsskilled in the art without departing from the scope and principlethereof as defined in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A food receptacle for containing food being cooked comprising anetted fabric adapted to assume a tubular shape, said fabric beingcomposed of circumferential and longitudinal strands, one of saidstrands having an elastic core and a double layer of covering thereforwhich affords continuous and uninterrupted protection for said coreunder stretch conditions, each of said covering layers being composed ofright and left hand wound threads with adjacent coils of thread in[each] the outer covering layer in continuous contact with each other,the outer and inner threads of the inner covering layer being wound withadjacent coils thereof out of contact with each other, the outercovering layer threads each comprising a plurality of filaments.

[2. A receptacle as defined in claim 1 in which each of the threads inthe outer layer is composed of a plurality of filaments] ReferencesCited The following references, cited by the Examiner, are of record inthe patented file of this patent or the original patent.

4 UNITED STATES PATENTS Hall 57152 Crimmins 57-152 X Fox 57152 Clay66-193 X Gross et al. 66-193 Engelhard 66202 X Hammerle.

Miles et al. 66-202 X OLena.

Kern 99-174 Weinberg 66193 FOREIGN PATENTS 8/1929 Germany.

WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner.

